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More image and video takedowns might be coming to Facebook and Instagram

More image and video takedowns might be coming to Facebook and Instagram

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The company opens its rights manager up to all page admins

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

More copyright takedown requests might be coming to Facebook and Instagram. The company announced today that it’s going to allow all page admins around the world to submit images and videos for rights protection, expanding the reach of the feature outside of the limited group of partners who piloted the image copyright launch.

This means more creators and brands will be able to issue takedown requests over re-uploaded videos and images they own across both Facebook and Instagram. These creators will also have the option of making money off matches if their re-uploaded content is monetized with in-stream ads.

Facebook only launched support for claiming copyrighted images in September. Although anyone can claim rights for an image, disputes among potential rights holders typically come down to who filed the claim first. If creators want to appeal Facebook’s decisions, they can use Facebook’s IP reporting forms.

The fact that people can now track and protect their own images on Facebook is a major change for the platform, especially as access rolls out more widely. Instagram is especially tricky territory for image takedowns. Accounts often reshare images they don’t own, usually defaulting to tagging the account where the image seemingly originated. As more pages start claiming ownership, takedowns might happen more frequently, altering how people use Instagram and the number of re-shares that happen on the platform.